The Hill (1/10, Pecquet) “Healthwatch” blog reported, “‘The shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) one year ago in Tucson,” Arizona, “sparked a ‘hue and cry about mental health,’ but little progress on the issue’ has been made,” said Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-CA), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Mental Health Caucus, in an interview with The Hill.

Napolitano “in particular said she regrets that her legislation to fund mental health services in public schools went nowhere. The Mental Health in Schools Act would have authorized $200 million in competitive grants to provide mental health professionals in 200 or so public schools, but never got a committee hearing.”

The blog entry points out, however, that the congresswoman “led a letter (pdf) to House leaders that helped pare down cuts to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in the omnibus spending bill from $212 million to just $33 million, preventing $179 million in cuts.”

USA Today (1/11, Lloyd) reports that a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report has found that “one in six adults in the USA is a binge drinker, consuming an average of eight drinks per occasion and doing so about four times a month.” The report’s author, CDC alcohol program lead Robert Brewer, remarked, “What is different with this study is we studied the frequency and the intensity, and the number of episodes by different groups. The frequency is very high and the amount consumed was also very high.”

Bloomberg News (1/11, Lopatto) reports, “Wisconsin had both the highest percentage of binge drinkers, with 25.6 percent of the population reporting they engaged, and the most-intense sessions, with an average of nine drinks,” while “the nation’s capital reported 21.9 percent of its population was binge-drinkers, tying it with North Dakota for third highest in a survey covering the District of Columbia and 48 of the 50 states.” Brewer commented, “We’re talking about a risk behavior that’s quite widespread in the population. And where people have the impression it’s not such a bad thing to do.”

The AP (1/11) quotes Brewer, who said, “I know this sounds astounding, but I think the numbers we’re reporting are really an underestimate.” The piece notes that while “binge drinking may be considered socially acceptable,” it “accounts for more than 40,000 deaths each year,” and “contributes to problems like violence and drunk-driving accidents and longer-term issues like cancer, heart disease and liver failure.”

HealthDay (1/10, Goodwin) reports that according to a review published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics, “omega-3 fatty acids may” benefit children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), “while fatty ‘Western-style’ diets do these children no favors.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after reviewing “previous studies on diets and supplements that have been tried in children with AD/HD. Among the diets tested: restricting sugar, which some parents believe worsens hyperactivity; avoiding food containing additives and preservatives, known as the ‘Feingold diet’; an ‘elimination diet’ that avoids foods most often implicated in food allergies; and supplementing with omega-3 fatty acids, such as fish oil capsules.”

WebMD (1/10, Mann) quotes psychiatrist Marshall Teitelbaum, MD, who was not involved in the study. Dr. Teitelbaum said, “What makes the most sense is to look at a child’s diet and see what changes may be healthy in general and may also help improve AD/HD symptoms.” He advised parents of children with AD/HD that they “cut back on soda, junk food, hot dogs, and processed foods” in their youngsters’ diets. However, psychiatrist Stephen Grcevich, MD, “says medication and behavioral changes should always come first, especially for children with issues in addition to AD/HD, such as anxiety or depression.”

Related Links:

— “Diet Might Have Some Effect on ADHD,” Jennifer Goodwin, HealthDay, January 9, 2011.

The San Diego Union-Tribune (1/9, Steele) reports, “Nationally,” Veterans Affairs is “embracing alternative therapies,” including meditation and yoga, “to help veterans deal with combat stress and…physical pain.” However, a “May VA research conference concluded that evidence of the benefit of these therapies on post-traumatic stress disorder — possibly the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — is still thin. Now VA researchers in San Diego, which has the largest population of post-9/11 military veterans in the nation, have received funding to conduct additional studies.”

Related Links:

— “PTSD? Try meditation and yoga,” Jeanette Steele, San Diego Union-Tribune, January 8, 2012.

The AP (1/4, Johnson) reports, “Patients not taking medicine as prescribed cost the US healthcare system roughly $290 billion a year in extra treatment and related costs, research shows. One study estimated those patients pay about $2,000 a year in extra out-of-pocket medical costs.” Notably, “nearly three in four Americans don’t take their prescription medicine as directed. Even among those with serious chronic health conditions such as diabetes, about one in three don’t.”

Unfortunately, “for patients with chronic health conditions — nearly half the US population — not taking medications as prescribed can bring serious consequences,” even premature death.

Related Links:

— “Following the doctor’s orders on your medicine can save you thousands, prevent hospital stays,” Linda A. Johnson, Chicago Tribune, January 3, 2011.

HealthDay (1/3, Thompson) reports that “a growing body of research that has found that ‘positive activity interventions’ — like helping someone with groceries, writing a thank you note or even counting your blessings — can serve as an effective, low-cost treatment for depression.” Michelle Riba, MD, former president of the American Psychiatric Association, “agreed that positivity can have a dramatic effect on people’s psychological well-being.” She stated, “In general, people who help others stop focusing on their own pains and problems and worries and feel good about themselves.”

Related Links:

— “With Depression, Helping Others May in Turn Help You,” Denise Thompson, HealthDay, January 2, 201.

HealthDay (12/31, Mozes) reported, “Drug users who inject themselves with methamphetamine are 80 percent more likely to attempt suicide than those abusing other drugs,” according to a study published in the December issue of Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after examining “material from interviews involving nearly 1,900 men and women that were conducted in the Vancouver area over seven years, from 2001 to 2008.”

HealthDay also pointed out that the study was partly funded by the US National Institutes of Health.

Related Links:

— “Meth Users Much More Likely to Try Suicide,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, December 30, 2011.

HealthDay (1/3, Mann) reports that “the combination of poverty and having diabetes during pregnancy significantly raises the risk of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in a woman’s offspring,” according to a study published in the January issue of the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. In a study involving 212 children, 115 of which came from low-income families or had mothers with gestational diabetes or both, researchers found that “children born to such moms are as much as 14 times more likely to have AD/HD by the age of six.” In fact, mothers “who had either gestational diabetes or were poor were twice as likely to have children with AD/HD, but the combination of these two risk factors was even more powerful.”

Related Links:

— “Mom’s Poverty, Diabetes Might Raise ADHD Risk in Kids,” Denise Mann, HealthDay, January 2, 2012.

In the “First Person” column in the Miami Herald (1/3), Miami Herald editor Andrea Torres, a breast cancer patient, writes, “Experts in psychosocial oncology say that women with breast cancer have the third highest rate of depression among cancer diagnostic groups, and that major depression is an under-recognized and under-treated problem.”

Torres goes on to describe her particular battle with depression. Currently, she is being treated with antidepressants and “staying connected to others with the help of social media” to improve her outlook on matters. She is also “set to begin behavioral therapy soon.”

Related Links:

— “Facebook, medication help breast cancer patient deal with depression,” Andrea Torres, Miami Herald, January 3, 2012.

The Oregonian (12/30, House) reports, “Dextroamphetamine/amphetamine [Adderall] and its counterparts, including methylphenidate [Ritalin] and the over-the-counter caffeine [Vivarin], are growing in popularity among students who don’t have ADHD but use the medications as study tools to stay awake and alert during prolonged cram sessions.”

It’s estimated that “as many as a third of college students have used Adderall and its counterparts without a prescription” and “as the rate of ADHD medication abuse increases, higher education institutions are responding with new policies aimed at reducing the drugs’ prevalence on campus.”

A survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration found that “students who used prescription stimulants were eight times more likely than their counterparts to use cocaine and tranquilizers and five times more likely to abuse pain relievers.”

Related Links:

— “ADHD-drug abuse popular on Oregon campuses; university health officials fight back,” Kelly House, The Oregonian, December 30, 2011.